Rite of fall, 2020
Fresco, 2,5 x 18 meters approx.
Realized in occasion of the exhibition “Moving plants”, now permanently in Palmengarten, Frankfurt (DE)
“Birth, growth, death, decay—these are some of the forms with which plants move between the two worlds, above and below ground. Agnese Galiotto depicts an inverted universe in her frescoes, an upside-down version of the human-made system of the botanical garden, which was created to protect the plants. In her fresco, a fallen tree extends in the shade of the citrus trees and merges with the surrounding vegetation. Its dry branches suggest that this once living organism was the victim of a natural disaster: a fire that burned down a mountain slope near the artist’s parents home in the Small Dolomites. A self-portrait with her hen can be seen behind the bushes in the pavilion.
The painted birds are also not what they appear to be: when looked at closely, it becomes clear that they are stuffed. They become an artificial imitation of what life once was. Agnese Galiotto creates a microcosm that subtly reveals the garden’s staged systems and questions the anthropocentric need for control.”
Teodora Talhos and Maren Feller
